Facing the Truth
by moreofaguestage
Summary: Hermione finally confronts the fact her marriage isn't working.


A/N Just a short fic in response to the bombshell J.K. dropped this weekend!

Hermione was sick of the bickering. In the beginning, when they were younger it was fun, playful but lately...well lately it had become worse.

Hermione and Ron had moved in together shortly after the war. Both had started at the ministry, Ron as a junior auror and Hermione as an assistant in Department for The Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures. Soon after they were married and she would be lying if she said it felt anything other than perfect. They were so obviously in love and less than a year later Rose was born and Hugo followed soon after. Sure they fought about things like Ron not doing the washing or Hermione leaving her books and work papers around but they were always resolved quickly and never seemed too important. They'd been happy, so happy. Lately though, lately the arguments had become bigger, scarier.

Yesterday it was about whether or not to send Rosie to a muggle primary school. The week before, who should cut back their hours so to look after Hugo and the night before that...she honestly couldn't remember but it had ended with Hermione in tears and Ron sleeping at Harry and Ginny's.

Hermione never thought it would be this hard. Her parents were calm, mild mannered people who rarely raised their voices to anyone and while she had seen Arthur and Molly argue occasionally it was never as vile or as vicious as the fights her and Ron had been having recently.

When they were first married her and Ron treated arguing like foreplay. He'd tease her about her hair, the doorstopper of a novel she was reading and she'd needle him about his lack of tact or leaving his clothes on the floor. The insults were all thrown with a wry smile, a wink and both knew they meant well. Within minutes they'd be happy again, running their hands over each other, disappearing into their bedroom.

Now she couldn't even remember the last time she had felt his skin under her fingers, touched his hair or pressed his lips against his. Hell, she couldn't even remember the last time he smiled at her. Now he spent most of his time at work or hiding at Harry's. This was something she couldn't understand, Hermione couldn't stand to be inside their house right now. Their marriage was so startlingly different it made her want to cry. Last time she was at Godric's Hollow she watched them, they joked and moved around each other in a simple, easy way that tore at her heart. Her and Ron had never managed that even on their happiest of days. They would trip over each other in the kitchen and she would ignore him for hours while researching late into the night. Harry and Ginny never seemed to be in each other's way, they fit together in a way that made her so jealous she could scream. Watching them was worse than watching Ron and Lavender in sixth year. Maybe that was the problem.

She wanted out. If she was honest she had wanted out for a long time. Except she couldn't quite bear what that would mean. The Weasleys had felt like her family now after almost 20 years in their company, they were her first real tie to the wizarding world outside of Hogwarts. And her children...what would happen to Rosie and Hugo? She couldn't bare the thought of not seeing them everyday. Even the idea of that brought tears to her eyes, they were her babies. Rose, with her curly red hair and freckles had Ron wrapped around her finger from the moment she was born. Braver than Hermione was at that age she often found Rosie climbing trees or playing pretend with her other cousins. Hermione loved watching her from The Burrow window, bossing around the others as she created stories about pirates or giants or whatever story had taken her fancy that week.

Hugo was a different story, he was quieter, choosing to stay inside while the others ran around. Hermione usually found him playing by himself, watching the others. He shared a younger Hermione's distain for getting dirty and was happiest when he was alone with one of his parents. Hermione had worried at one point that Ron wouldn't be able to adjust to his quieter son, especially coming from such a boisterous family, but he had taken it in his stride, making time for Hugo, reading, or simply talking to the small boy.

It was those moments that made her remember why she had fallen so hard for Ron Weasley. Seeing him as a father, as a grown man. He had softened since Hogwarts and had taken fatherhood into his stride with a knack that many of his brothers didn't even have. He knew when to spoil Rose and Hugo and when to be strict, he held their schedules in his mind unlike any magical formula from school and his jokes would leave them in peals of laughter. Not that she hadn't managed to adapt as well though. In fact, they made an excellent team when it came to their kids. Her organizational abilities complimented his spontaneity and while he provided the jokes and laughter for the two Hermione gave them both the loving warmth only a mother could provide.

Hermione was in turmoil now, so confused. She still loved Ron, she always would she just didn't know if she could stand him any more. He found it hard to appreciate her career at the ministry. He had left the auror office soon after Hugo was born in order to help George with the shop. At the time Hermione had privately hoped he had done it so he could work less and she could continue expanding S.P.E.W. Of course the shop turned out to be far more demanding than either had expected and she was forced again and again to shorten her hours and come home early for the kids while Ron worked late into the night.

"It's only because I'm a woman" she thought mutinously before being consumed by guilt. Of course she loved her children but she would never understand why her work which was so instrumentally important and was slowly but surely changing the lives of house elves and werewolves around Britain should be shelved for a bloody joke shop!

The night she had voiced these concerns had been one of the worst of her life. He yelled at her, saying she never appreciated him, how she expected him to live in her shadow, do what she wanted while he stayed home. He accused her of thinking him useless, of marrying him because she needed someone to control. She in turn told him he lacked any kind of conscience, berated him about house elf rights and pleaded with him to understand how important her work was. That had made it worse, Ron believed he needed to be the one providing while she stayed home. He saw his parents marriage, their 50 years together and assumed if they simply mimicked their decisions it would work out, they'd be happy.

"I am not your mother Ronald," she had finally screamed, picking up her handbag and storming out.

She had spent a sleepless night at the Leaky Cauldron and returned early before either of the children woke up. Neither Ron nor Hermione mentioned the fight, pretending it had never happened. Of course this only made it worse, the fight had been bubbling under the surface for almost a month now and the memory filled Hermione with a white hot rage.

There was no easy answer to this, no quick fix. Divorce was so rare in the wizarding world she was terrified to even talk about it to anyone. Hermione put her head in her hands. She wanted an out but nothing was appearing, there was no easy answer. Her and Ron had been married for six years, they had created a family and no matter what she chose Hermione was going to hurt someone she loved.

Of course, Hermione was never one to ignore a problem, especially one this important. Summoning all her courage she knocked on the door of their bed room and said,

"Ron...Ron we need to talk."


End file.
